Stagnant start to the year for Spanish FMCG

14/03/2016

Household spending on FMCG products registered a slight decline of -0.3% in the last quarter, which ended in January 2016*, according to the latest Grocery Market Share update from Kantar Worldpanel. The fall mostly took place in January, although the positive numbers in November and December soften the cumulative figure for the quarter.

“Retail in 2016 has begun with similar trends to 2015, with the specialist channel dropping a share point in January and major distributors seizing the opportunity to enhance their positions,” says Florencio García, Retail & Petrol Sector Director at Kantar Worldpanel.

“However, the quarter is also still marked by some typical Christmas-period purchasing habits, which in some cases hide, and in others add, to the overall good start to the year for the country’s large retail groups.”

Stores such as hypermarkets, which stock a wide range of products, usually take a larger share of Christmas shopping baskets, with Carrefour having gained the most in the last holiday season. It remains the second biggest retail group in Spain and not only increased its market share, compared to the rest of the year, but stretched this positive trend out until January. Its market share stands at 8.7% in the quarterly data (+0.1 points compared to 2015).

Meanwhile, Lidl gained almost one point in market share in January and, together with growth at the end of the year, is at 3.9% share for the quarter, 0.6 points up over the same period in 2015. Mercadona’s share stands at 22% (+0.3 pp vs. 2015). These two retailers have been the fastest growing over the last quarter, Grupo Dia has also recorded a good start to the year with almost half a share point gainedin January, recovering part of its losses over Christmas and closing the quarter with a share of 8.2% (-0.2 pp vs. 2015).

Auchan was more stable in its share throughout 2015, despite of operating in the hypermarket channel with its Alcampo brand, and ended the quarter at 3.7 points (-0.1 vs. 2015).

While Grupo Eroski’s fall has continued and its share is now at 5.9% compared to the 6.7% achieved in 2015, when it recorded its highest share of the last three years.

“The coming months look as if they will be pretty exciting for the industry. There are a number of movements on the horizon, such as the transfer of retail space between Eroski and Carrefour, the agreements between Euromadi and Auchan and consolidation of new proposals such as Costco, Dia’s La Plaza store concept and Amazon,” concludes Florencio García.